Packaging apparatus

ABSTRACT

The disclosure relates to a method and apparatus of packaging tea bags in cardboard boxes wherein the tea bags are transported along a guide in groups each of which will form the contents of one box, a folded and glued box blank is withdrawn from a stack and erected into an open-ended tubular configuration, a main flap at the top of the tubular box is folded over to form a floor of an inverted box, and the inverted box is then carried forwardly and downwardly to enclose the advancing group of articles. Advantageously a further main flap at the bottom of the box is then folded from a horizontal configuration underneath the box to a closed configuration enclosing the guide along which the box passes, the box then being advanced off the end of the guide to a delivery station.

United States Patent Salomon 1 1 Oct. 2, 1973 [54] PACKAGING APPARATUS3,137,112 6/1964 Kulleseid 53/376 3,445,980 5 1969 S1 53 26 1761inventor: Jamb Salomon wezman 3 562 775 5/1968 53 243 x Holon, Israel[22] Filed; Dec. 21, 1971 Primary Examiner-Travis S. McGehee AssistantExaminer-Horace M. Culver [2]] Appl' 2l0472 Attorney-Fleit, Gipple &Jacobson [30] Foreign Application Priority Data 57] ABSTRACT Dec. 22,1970 Great Britain 60,880/70 The disclosure relates to a method andapparatus of packaging tea bags in cardboard boxes wherein the tea [52]U.S. C1 53/186, 53/242, 53/376 bags are transported along a guide ingroups each f [51] 1111!. C1 B651) 5/06 which will form the contents fone box' a folded d [58] Field 01' Search 53/186, 191, 242, glued boxblank is withdrawn from a Stack and erected 53/243 into an open-endedtubular configuration, a main flap 392v 147 at the top of the tubularbox is folded over to form a floor of an inverted box, and the invertedbox is then [561 References cued carried forwardly and downwardly toenclose the ad- UNITED STATES PATENTS vancing group of articles.Advantageously a further 3,064,405 11/1962 Gentry 53 242 x main p at thebottom of the bOX is folded from 2,698,559 1/1955 53/374X a horizontalconfiguration underneath the box to a 1,962,481 6/1934 Clark 53/186 Xclosed configuration enclosing the guide along which 2,276,129 Wesselmanv. X the box passes the box then being advanced ff the end 2,603,9247/1952 Currie et a1... 53/242 X of the guide to a delivery station2,935,918 5/1960 Goss 53/376 X 3,021,655 2/1962 Chadima et a1 53/243 15Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTEB um 2m SHEET 3 [1F 4 PACKAGINGAPPARATUS The present invention relates to packaging apparatus and, moreparticularly, to an automatic device for erecting and filling a box froma folded box blank.

Hitherto boxes have been erected by either manually opening and foldinga previously glued, flat, folded box blank and then filling the box, oralternatively by folding and gluing a flat sheet to form a box in theerected configuration and subsequently filling the box. These operationsare both time-consuming and uneconomic since the first mentioned manualblank opening operation requires costly labour to effect the opening ofa folded blank, and the second mentioned building of a box in an erectconfiguration for subsequent filling results in an erected and hencebulky box which is difficult to store, and is therefore best filled assoon as possible in which case at least one box building machine must beinstalled adjacent to if not integral with the box filling plant.

According to one aspect of the present invention I provide a box fillingapparatus comprising means for supporting the intended contents of abox, means for opening and erecting a box blank to form an open box andmeans for placing the open box in an inverted configuration over theintended contents. Conveniently the means for supporting the intendedcontents may consist of a conveyor for transporting the articles pastthe box filling station, and means may be provided for synchronising thetravel of the contents with the lowering of the inverted box intocontact therewith.

Preferably the means for placing the box in an inverted configurationover the intended contents comprises a box gripping frame associatedwith the box blank opening and erecting means and pivotably carried by aparallelogram linkage arranged to carry the box forwardly with anddownwardly onto the box contents being advanced by said conveyor.Desirably the means for opening and erecting the box blank may includemeans for gripping the wall of a folded, already glued box blank andmeans for rotating said gripping means to effect unfolding of the boxblank during withdrawal from a stack. More desirably the box opening anderecting means may further comprise abutment means for opening thefolded box blank to provide a rectangular tubular box, further grippingmeans for holding the opened rectangular box and means for folding twoside flaps and a main flap to close the floor of the box while in aninverted configuration. The said further gripping means may be in theform of a suction pad which may advantageously be carried on a suctiongripping member which includes at least one freely slidably mountedgripping member provided at one end with said suction pad; an abutmentsurface associated with the suction pad to engage an article held by thesuction pad; a piston carried by the gripping member and sealinglyslidably mounted within a cylinder stationary relative to said abutmentsurface; means biasing said piston towards a first end of said cylinderin a sense tending to retract the gripping member with respect to saidabutment surface; a central axially extending passage within saidgripping member communicating the suction pad with said one end of thecylinder; and means for optionally communicating said first end and asecond end of the cylinder simultaneously with a common source ofsuction.

Suitably the apparatus may further comprise means for advancing theinverted filled boxes beyond the box erecting and lowering station,means for inwardly folding further side flaps of each box and means forinwardly folding a further main flap of the box to close the package.

According to a further aspect of the present invention I provide amethod of packaging a plurality of substantially laminar articles,comprising feeding a group of said substantially laminar articles alonga guide, opening and erecting a box blank to form an inverted open box,placing the inverted box over the group of articles travelling along theguide, folding the lid of the box during travel along the guide so thatthe lid encloses part of the guide in contact therewith, and sliding theclosed end of the box off the end of the guide for delivery to acollecting station.

In order that the present invention may more readily be understood thefollowing description is given, merely by way of example, referencebeing made to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view showing an embodiment of automaticboxing mechanism in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the mechanism of FIG.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are sectional views taken along the lines 3-3 and 4-4 ofFIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the boxing unit in its raised,box-receiving condition;

FIG. 6 is a side elevational, partly sectional view showing the boxfolding unit in its FIG. 5 condition;

FIG. 7 is an end elevational, partly sectional view showing the boxingmechanism during the folding and box lowering operation; and

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view showing the boxing mechanism in theFIG. 7 condition.

The mechanism illustrated in the drawings is able to remove foldedblanks 1 from a magazine 2 and to open the blanks above a succession ofgroups of tea bags passing therebelow between spacer members 62 and 63.The boxing member then grips the opened blank and carries the blankforwardly and downwardly onto one of the groups of tea bags and alsofolds three upper flaps 25a, 25b and 28 which will form the floor of thefinished box. Finally, the groups of bags pass along a delivery guideduring which time two small side flaps 34a and 34b are tucked under andthe main lid 32 is folded under to complete the closed package which isthen ejected from the delivery end of the mechanism. The operation ofthe boxing mechanism is entirely automatic and relies merely upon thepresence of an adequate supply of folded blanks in the magazine 2 and acontinuous stream of counted groups of tea bags being fed from astarwheel arrangement. The starwheel feed and bag counting mechanism mayadvantageously be as described and claimed in my British Pat. Nos.1,224,710 and 1,291,069. However, any other suitable feed mechanism forsupplying counted groups of bags for boxing may be employed.

The detailed layout of the mechanism will now be described more fully inorder more clearly to illustrate the invention.

The magazine 2 comprises a horizontal container housing a stack offolded blanks of boxes which, when erected, include four side walls withadjacent walls mutually perpendicular, upper and lower main flaps 32 and28 each having a respective end tab 38 or 22, and two lower side flaps25a and 25b and two upper side flaps 34a and 34b of much reducedvertical extent. In the preferred form of box for use with thisinvention the flaps 34a and 3417 have a vertical depth of the order ofthreeeighths inch. It should be remembered that in each of theaccompanying drawings the box is shown in inverted configuration in thatthe lowermost main flap 32 will in use become the lid of the box and theterms upper and lower referred to throughout this description areintended to denote the orientation of the box when in use, i.e., theflap 32 will be referred to as the upper main flap and the flap 28 asthe lower main flap.

One of the side walls of the container is gripped by a suction pad 3connected to a suitable source of vacuum and secured to a verticalrotatable shaft 5 driven by a suitable cam mechanism (not shown)driveably connected to a main boxing unit timing shaft 13a shown in FIG.1.

The suction pad 3 carries the box blank sideways into a position abovethe tea bag guide 49 and holds the gripped wall of the container in aconfiguration in which it is perpendicular to the direction of bagadvance along the guide 49. By virtue of the particular manner offolding of the stacked blank, a guide bar 6 will obstruct an adjacentwall of the box and urge it into a configuration in which it is mutuallyperpendicular with the gripped wall. A similar configuration will beadopted by the other side walls. Thus at this stage the box blank willbe opened and ready for gripping by the boxing member.

The boxing member comprises vertical side walls 8 and 9 joined at oneend by a bridge 10, the side walls 8 and 9 being provided withrespective pairs of suction grippers 11b, 11d and 11a, 11c.

The boxing member is carried by a pair of swinging arms 12:: and 12b(FIG. 8) which are connected to, on the one hand the machine frame and,on the other hand the boxing member side walls 8 and 9 such that theboxing member, machine frame and arms 12a and 12b create a parallelogramlinkage which ensures that the boxing member always retains anorientation in which the box is aligned with a group of bags to bepackaged. The pivotally carried boxing member is raised and lowered bymeans of a lever 15 connected between the mid-point of arm 12b and oneend 14a ofa further lever 14 pivoted to the machine frame by its otherend and having a cam follower 14c riding on the surface of a cam 13mounted on the main timing shaft 13a referred to above.

The shape of the cam 13 is such that at the desired time of the cyclethe suction grippers 11a, 11b, 11c and 11d of the boxing member willadvance and grip the opened box just before suction is disconnected fromthe pad 3, and will lower the box in a forward and downward directiononto a group of bags moving along the guide 49. The boxing member willsubsequently rise to collect the next opened box blank from the magazine2. The shape of the cam is so related to the speed of operation of themechanism that the forward component of velocity of the boxing member atthe point of covering the group of bags with the box is equal to therate of advance of the bags along the guide 49. Thus the bar will beplaced closely around the bags and will already be moving at the correctspeed before the box is released by the boxing member.

Before the boxing member commences its downward movement carrying theopened box, a pivotally mounted pneumatic suction jack 16a is operatedto pull a bar 16 upwardly against the vertical bottom flap 28 of the boxat a location just below a scored fold line between the bottom flap 28and a terminal tab 22 thereof. The bar continues its movement into thecrook of an angled folding plate 19 until a folding plate actuatingmember in the form ofa plate 21 abuts the bar 16 near its ends toprevent further movement of the bar. The folding plate 19 is pivotallymounted and is spring biased towards the actuating arm 21 by means ofahelical tension spring 21a but during the retraction of the bar 16 underthe action of the jack 16a anticlockwise pivoting motion of the foldingplate 19 is resisted by an abutment 20 which engages behind thepivotable folding plate 19. The bar 16 has a substantially triangularshape with one corner of the triangle disposed so as to cause a sharpbend at the scored fold line between the main lower tab 28 and itsterminal tab 22. The dotted line position at FIG. 5 shows that theterminal tab 22 has been bent through an obtuse angle.

Simultaneously with the folding of the terminal tab 22, two furtherpneumatic suction jacks of which only one jack 50a is illustrated inFIG. 5 are actuated to urge respective pivot shafts 27a, 27b leftwardlyuntil respective terminal folding arms 23a, 23b thereof are in registerwith the centre of upstanding side bottom flaps 25a, 25b. At this pointcranks 51a and 51b (FIG. 6) move out of register with associated cams26a and 26b and permit a tension spring 27 extending between the crank51a and 51b to urge the cranks to rotate in directions which areconsistent with downward movement of the arm 23a and 23b to fold theupstanding bottom side tabs 25a and 25b inwardly into a parallelconfiguration.

Once the spring 27 has contracted, the two cranks 51a and 51b will be inthe broken line position shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 and will therefore becompletely clear of the respective cams 26a and 26b. However, as theboxing member advances and lowers the opened box onto a group of teabags the pneumatic suction jack 50a is vented so that a main helicalcompression spring therewithin urges the arms 23a and 231; with therespective cranks 51a and 51b back into the solid line position in FIG.5. Hence as the boxing member returns to its raised position ready togrip the next opened box blank the cams 26a and 261) will strike thecranks 51a and 51b urging them back into the FIG. 6 configuration inwhich the tension spring 27 is fully expanded and the mechanism cockedfor the next side flap folding operation.

As the boxing member moves forwardly and downwardly to carry theinverted box into a position in register with a group of counted bags onthe guide, the folding plate 19 is urged for pivoting movement, in theclockwise sense as viewed in FIG. 5, through the FIG. 7 configuration bymeans of clockwise movement of the actuating member 21 to which thefolding plate 19 is secured by the above mentioned tension spring 21a.During this motion, the already folded terminal tab 22 of the lower mainflap 28 enters a slot remaining between cut-away edges 52a and 52b ofthe lower side flaps 25a and 25b and the adjacent side wall 53 of theopened box. The terminal tab 22 is guided into this configuration bymeans of the crooked end of the folding plate 19, and at the very end ofthe clockwise pivoting motion the folding plate 19 abuts the floor ofthe inverted box while the actuating member 21 continues resilientlyresisted clockwise pivoting to push home the main lower flap 28 into aposition of parallelism and abutment with the lower side flaps a and25b. The timing of the venting of suction jacks 50a and 50b is such thatthe spindles and the folding arms 23a and 23b are only retracted duringthe final part of movement of the folding plate 19 so that the lowerside flaps 25a and 25b are held down until the main flap 28 has beenfolded through a considerable angle and is able to assume the task ofholding the side flaps down. Naturally, retraction of the folding arms23a must be completed before the free end of the terminal tab 22 entersthe above mentioned slot between the cut away edges 52a and 52b and theside walls 53.

Simultaneously with this folding of the floor of the inverted box andlowering of the box the lid or upper main flap 32 is caused to engage afolding guide 33 which, as can be seen from FIGS 5 and 6, is curved sothat during its initial contact with the main flaps 32 the angle of theguide 33 is quite steeply inclined to the horizontal causing the flap tocommence anticlockwise pivoting motion. During the latter part of thecontact with the flap 32 the inclination of the flap is quite shallowthereby gently urging the main flap 32 into a horizontal configurationin which it can be gripped by sucker pads 33a and 33b to pull the boxdownwardly against the group of bags on the guide. The suckers 33a and33b advance along the guide 49 with the box until the box is entrainedby a chain conveyor comprising chains 36a, 36b carrying spacedtransversely extending bars 35. A detailed description of the precisemounting arrangement for the movable suction pads 33a and 33b will beomitted from this specification since it is possible, within the scopeof the invention to employ any suitable form of mounting system such asa moving carriage entrained for movement along with the box andspring-biased towards a starting position so as to be allowed to returnto the left hand end of the guide 50 once the suction of suckers 33a and33b is released.

Pivoting of the folding plate actuating member 21 is effected by meansof a pivot shaft 54 having at one end a bevel gear 2% in constantmeshing engagement with a further bevel gear 29a to which a crank arm ismounted for movement about the axis of the gear 29a. The free end of thecrank arm 30 is connected to a push rod 31 which extends parallel to themain boxing member support arms 12a and 12b and is controlled from asuitable cam also mounted on the main timing shaft 13a mentioned aboveas controlling movement of the boxing member support arms 12a and 12b.However, the illustration of FIG. 8 shows clearly that retraction of thepush rod 31 will cause the desired downward folding movement of themember 21 carrying with it the main folding plate 19.

The suction gripper devices 11a, 11b, 11c and 11d are fed from the samesource of suction as the suction pneumatic jacks a and 50b, the suckerpad 3, the sucker pads 33a and 33b, and the suction pneumatic jack 16a.However, a suitable cam-operated shut off valve system may be arrangedfor timing the various sucking and venting operations to control thetiming of the operation of the various suction actuated devices.

By way of explanation, the operation of one sucker gripper device 110will now be described, although it will be appreciated that the otherdevices 11b, 11c and 11d operate in a similar manner. Suction is appliedthrough the main conduit 55a which communicates suction to both sides ofthe piston 56a, by virtue of a narrower bore bypass passage 57a.However, the left hand side of the piston 56a is exposed solely to theaction of the suction pressure, the right hand side of the piston iscommunicated also to atmosphere when the suction pad 58a is retractedsince the main shaft of the suction pad 58a is hollow and ambient airpressure is therefore communicated into the space to the right of thepiston. The reduced diameter of the passage 570 will assist in delayingbuild-up of suction to the right of the piston 56a and thus the pressureto the right of the piston 56a will be higher than that to the left,with the result that the piston moves leftwardly against the action ofthe helical compression spring 59a. However, once the suction pad 58acomes into contact with the adjacent wall 53 of the opened box blank theright hand side of the piston 56a will no longer be exposed to ambientpressure since the passage through the suction pad will now be blockedby the box wall. At this point the pressure to the right of the pistonwill reduce as will also the pressure within the suction pad, therebyholding the suction pad more firmly against the adjacent box wall untilsuch time as the suction gripper unit 11a is again vented. Thus advanceand gripping of the suction gripper device 11a is carefully butautomatically controlled so that gripping commences as soon as thesuction pad 58a contacts the adjacent box wall. Upon venting, thesuction pad 58a will no longer grip the wall and the pressure on eitherside of the piston 56a will be equalised, allowing the compressionspring 59a to urge the piston rightwardly for retracting the suctionpad.

As the inverted boxes surrounding the respective groups of tea bags passrightwardly along the guide 49 the terminal tab 38 of each main top flap32 passes under a folding bar 37 which, as shown in FIG. 2, deflects theterminal tab downwardly into a configuration of perpendicularity withthe horizontal upper main flap Rightward movement of the boxes due toentrainment by the conveyor 36a, 36b continues causing the box to arriveat the righthand end of the folding bar 37 when it simultaneously comesin register with four snail cams 40a, 40b, 41a and 41b which rotate inan anticlockwise direction and are shaped so as progressively to pushthe box downwardly as the upper side flaps 34a and 34b come in contactwith respective serrated folding members. As the box is pusheddownwardly against the guide 44 by the snail cams the guide 44 serves asan anvil which causes the upper side flaps 34a and 34b of the box to befolded under.

The leading upper side flap 34a is shown in FIG. 1 as being directlyabove and in contact with a stationary serrated folding member 42 sothat upon rightward movement of the box and downward deflection by thecams 41a and 41b the free end of the side tab 34a is folded under.Simultaneously the trailing side flap 34b is impacted from behind by arapidly advancing folding member 43a in the form of a serrated foldingpad carried by a continuous belt passing around three paralleltriangularly arranged rollers. The belt carries a further similarserrated folding pad 43b arranged so that each travelling pad will foldthe trailing upper side flaps 34b of alternate boxes. Naturally, thespeed of advance of the travelling serrated folding pads 43a and 43bwill be arranged to be much greater than that of the advancing box sothat the trailing upper side flap 34b is always folded inwardly towardsthe leading upper side flap 34a. Progressive lowering of the box underthe cams 40a, 40 b, 41a and 4lb will complete the folding operation justbefore the upper main flap 32 comes in register with the two stage finalfolding mechanism illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4.

The folding member for the upper main flap 32 includes ahemi-cylindrical guide 39 disposed below the main box and bag guide 49in an upwardly concave configuration and having a diameter substantiallytwice the width of each box. The length of the hemicylindrical guide 39is in excess of the length of two spaced, successive boxes travellingalong the guide 49 and the associated folding mechanism is arranged tocarry out a two-stage folding operation as the boxes travel along theguide.

The first stage of the final folding operation is illustrated clearly inFIG. 3 which shows a pivotable folding plate 45 having a rib 45adisposed along the free end and arranged to urge the flap 32 in aclockwise direction. The plate 45 is mounted on a main folding spindle47 which extends parallel to the direction of box advance and isoperated by a push rod operated crank arm 47a at the delivery end of thespindle 47. The spindle is carried by journal bearings 47b and 470clearly illustrated in FIG. 2.

The second stage of the final folding operation is illustrated in FIG. 4showing the same spindle 47 carrying a cranked folding plate 46 having arib 46a near its free end to effect the folding abutment with the flap32.

Both FIGS. 3 and 4 show a reduced width tongue 44 forming the floor ofthe guide 49 at the output end, and FIG. 1 shows that the tongue 44 isdisposed above a downstream floor section 44a which supports the boxafter the final folding operation has been completed. The crank in thesecond stage folding plate 46 is arranged so that both the first stageand second stage folding plates 45 and 46 may be carried by a commonspindle 47 which must be disposed above the level of the floor 44 of theguide 49 in order to permit the initially horizontal upper main flap 32to pass under the bearing 47b of the spindle 47 during feed of theunfolded box to the final folding station of FIGS. 3 and 4.

The sectional views of FIGS. 3 and 4 correspond to a single commonposition of the spindle 47 in that the dotted line representations ofthe first stage and second stage folding plates 45 and 46 correspond tothe position of the spindle 47 at the start of the folding operation andthe full line position shows the position of the folding plates at theend of a folding operation. Once a box 60a arrives in the positionillustrated in FIG. 2, the spindle 47 commences its rotation which willonly occupy an angular deflection of approximately 95, and thus the mainflap 32 becomes folded from the initial, broken line position of FIG. 3to the final, full line position of FIG. 3 during the first stage of thefinal folding operation.

However, simultaneously with this first stage folding operation a box60b at the second stage of the folding station will' have already beenfolded to the full line configuration of FIG. 3 and this will correspondto the broken line configuration of FIG. 4. The angular orientation ofthe two folding plates 45 and 46 on the shaft 47 is such that the twofolding plates 45 and 46 are in their full line positionssimultaneously. Thus at the end of each folding operation the shaft 47must be rapidly rotated in the anti-clockwise direction as viewed inFIGS. 3 and 4 in order to restore the two folding plates to their brokenline or initial configuration before advance of the boxes. This willleave the plate 46 of FIG. 4 substantially vertical and abutting avertical upper main flap 32 so that upon the next successive first stagefolding operation a simultaneous secondary folding operation will takeplace in that the flap 32 will be rotated from the FIG. 4 broken lineposition to arrive at the FIG. 4 full line position in which theterminal tab 38 has entere d the box and the upper main flap 32 is nowfully folded except for the presence of the reduced width tongue 44 ofthe guide floor. However, as the box b is advanced to the 60cconfiguration of FIG. I it will slide off the end of the tongue 44 ontothe downstream floor portion 44a and the settling of the box will effectcompletion of the folding operation. Thus the box 60c arriving at thedelivery end of the boxing apparatus has been automatically filled withtea bags and closed from a folded box blank configuration 1 to a finalpackage configuration 60c. This operation has been carried out entirelyautomatically without the need for any human intervention other thansupervision to ensure that a steady flow of tea bags arrives at theboxing station and that a plentiful supply of box blanks l is disposedwithin the magazine 2.

Hitherto it has been very difficult to package limp substantiallylaminar articles such as tea bags but the boxing apparatus of thepresent invention, particularly when in combination with a guide whichfeeds counted bags in upstanding juxtaposed relationship between endspacer plates, ensures that this fully automatic operation may becarried out at extremely high speed. In practice, the tea bags deliveredfrom the starwheel 61 at the input end of the guide 49 are expected toland on the guide at a rate of 1200 per minute and the particularcounting mechanism illustrated in FIG. 1 and fully described and claimedin my said British Pat. No. l,29l ,069 enables bags delivered at thathigh rate to be counted into groups of a predetermined number and spacedduring travel along the guide.

The counting and spacing operation is effected by causing pairs offingers in contacting relationship to arrive at the input end of theguide 49 at regular intervals corresponding with delivery of the desirednumber of tea bags from the starwheel 61, and then the fingers, duringtheir rightward travel along the guide are spaced apart to define thedesired spacing between successive groups and allow sufficient room forthe boxing memher 8, 9 to place a box over the counted group of bags andspaced fingers 62 and 63.

Separation of the spacer fingers 62 and 63 is ensured by mounting thespacer finger 63 on a first conveyor 64 moving at a particular speed,and arranged for the relatively slidable spacer finger 62 to becontacted by an abutment on a second conveyor 65 moving at a slightlyslower speed so that during motion along the guide the finger 62 will beretarded with respect to the finger 63. Subsequently, at the right handend of the main conveyor 65 the fingers 62 and 63 will descend through awider slot portion 66 to pass below the guide 50 and to leave the flimsytea bags supported now by the end walls of the inverted box. Thus thespacer fingers serve to support the ends of the counted group of bags atall times until a box has been safely positioned around the group ofbags.

Several possible variations of the apparatus described above can beincorporated. For example, in order to increase the throughput it isreadily possible to mount two or more of the boxing mechanisms side byside or, alternatively, to arrange each boxing mechanism to operate on abox wide enough to accommodate two or more rows of bags side by side. Inthis way it is particularly convenient when employing the starwheelmechanism of my earlier British Pat. No. 1,224,710 to adapt thestarwheel to handle a web consisting of two or more rows of tea bagsside by side and to serve the web into discreet sets of articles eachconsisting of two or more articles which may or may not be separatedfrom one another before boxing, as the case may be.

A further possible modification of the apparatus consists in replacingthe angled folding plate 19 by a pair of plates, one corresponding tothe main plate portion of the member 19 and the other corresponding tothe transversely extending end portion but pivotally connected to themain portion and driven for pivotable movement between an initialposition, in which the main and the end plate portions subtend an obtuseangle at the hinge line, and a folding position in which the two plateportions subtend an acute angle at the hinge line. The mechanism may bearranged so that the two plate portions pivot from the initial positionto the folding position to fold down the end tab 22 and are then carriedin the clockwise direction about the main pivot axis to fold the maintop flap downwardly and so to close the box.

With the above mentioned changes to the folding member 19 it mayadditiOnally be desirable to replace the folding bar 16 by a similar barwhose pivot axis 18 is positioned above rather than below the arc ofoperation of the bar 16. In such a construction the bar 16 willinitially contact the flap 28 to hold this against the folding plateactuating member 21 while the pivotally mounted end portion of thefolding plate swings down to its folding position to trap the end tab 22in the acute angle formed between the end plate portions and theactuating member 21.

The folding bar 16 can then be retracted rightwardly by clockwisepivoting movements about its mounting axis and the folding plate andactuating member assembly can carry the lower flap 28 with its foldedend tab 22 downwardly to close the box.

I claim:

1. Box filling apparatus comprising a guide, at least one pair ofadvancing spacer members driven for movement along said guide anddefining ends of the intended contents of a single box, means foropening and erecting a box blank to form an inverted open box, a boxgripping frame associated with the box blank opening and erecting means,a pivotally mounted parallelogram linkage supporting the box grippingframe and arranged to carry a box gripped by the frame forwardly withand downwardly onto the box contents and spacer members being advancedalong said guide, means for synchronising the travel of said contentswith the operation of said parallelogram linkage lowering said invertedbox into contact with the contents and spacer members, and meansmounting the spacer members for subsequent downward movement out of theadvancing inverted filled box.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the means for opening anderecting the box blank include means for supporting a stack of foldedalready glued box blanks, means for gripping the wall ofa folded boxblank carried by said stack supporting means, and means for rotatingsaid gripping means to effect unfolding of the box blank duringwithdrawal from said stack.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said box opening and erectingmeans further comprises abutment means for opening the folded box blankto provide a rectangular tubular box, further gripping means for holdingthe opened rectangular box, and means for folding two side flaps and amain flap to close the floor of the box while in an invertedconfiguration.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said means for folding themain flap comprises an angled guide and a eo-operating bar to fold aterminal tab of the box blank main flap prior to closing of the mainflap itself.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the means for folding theside flaps includes retractable pivot shafts folding arms carried bysaid retractable pivot shafts, driven cams mounted adjacent said shafts,and resiliently biased cam follower arms on said pivot shafts in contactwith said driven cams to effect folding movement of the folding armsupon advance of the arms to a folding position in engagement with thepreviously unfolded side flaps.

6. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said further gripping meanscomprise suction pads, and the means for folding said main and sideflaps of the box include suction pneumatic jacks and a source of mo tionconnected to both the pneumatic jacks and said suction pads.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6, wherein each suction pad is carriedon a respective suction gripping member which includes at least onefreely slidably mounted gripping member provided at one end with saidsuction pad; an abutment surface associated with the suction pad toengage an article held by the suction pad; a piston carried by thegripping member and sealingly slidably mounted within a cylinderstationary relative to said abutment surface; means biasing said pistontowards a first end of said cylinder in a sense tending to retract thegripping member with respect to said abutment surface; a central axiallyextending passage within said gripping member communicating the suctionpad with said one end of the cylinder; and means for optionallycommunicating said first end and a second end of the cylindersimultaneously with a common source of suction.

8. Apparatus according to claim 3, and further including means foradvancing the inverted filled boxes beyond the box opening and erectingmeans, means for inwardly folding further side flaps of each box andmeans for inwardly folding a further main flap of the box to close thepackage.

9. Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the means for inwardlyfolding further side flaps of each box comprise means for urging the boxdownwardly against an anvil to effect deformation of the further sideflaps, a stationary folding member positioned on said anvil to foldunder the leading further side flap of the box during advancing movementof the inverted filled box, and a rapidly advancing overtaking foldingmember movable along said anvil for folding under the trailing furtherside flap of the inverted filled box, whereby the action of the saidstationary and overtaking folding members is assisted by the means forurging the box against the anvil.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the stationary foldingmember comprises a serrated pad and the overtaking folding membercomprises a similar serrated pad and wherein a rapidly advancingconveyor is disposed below the anvil and carries the overtaking foldingmember.

11. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the means for urging the boxdownwardly against the anvil comprises at least two rotating snail camsarranged to urge the box rapidly downwardly while its upstanding sideflaps are in contact with the said stationary and rapidly advancingfolding members.

12. Apparatus according to claim 8, and including means for advancingthe box beyond the anvil after folding of the side flaps, means disposedadjacent said advancing means for holding the further main flap of thebox in a horizontal configuration, and means associated with said mainflap holding means for folding a terminal tab of the said further mainflap vertically downwardly.

13. Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said means for foldinginwardly the further main flap of the box comprises a hemi-cylindricalfolding guide disposed below said guide, and at least one folding memberarranged to pivot about the longitudinal axis of the hemi-cylindricalguide to urge the main flap of the box to rotate into a closedconfiguration.

14. Apparatus according to claim 13, and including a pivot shaftsupporting said folding member, and a further such pivotable foldingmember disposed on said pivot shaft angularly displaced at with respectto the first mentioned folding member; said hemicylindrical guide beingarranged parallel to said pivot shaft whereby a first box may have itsmain flap rotated through an angle of 90 while a second alreadypartially closed box may have its main flap rotated through a further 90with the result that each individual box upon travelling past the twosaid folding members has its main flap rotated through a total of intothe fully folded position.

15. Apparatus according to claim 14, and including: surface means forsupporting a box passing said pivotable folding members, said surfacemeans comprising a guide member which has a width less than the radiusof said hemi-cylindrical guide and terminates downstream of said furtherpivotable folding member; and including a downstream supporting platedisposed at the point of termination of said guide member and at a levelwhich is closely spaced below that of the guide member, whereby the saidfurther main flap of the box is folded into a closed position over saidguide member and further advance of the folded box beyond the point oftermination of said guide member leaves the box resting on saiddownstream supporting plate with the main flap in a fully closedposition and disposed above said downstream supporting plate.

1. Box filling apparatus comprising a guide, at least one pair ofadvancing spacer members driven for movement along said guide anddefining ends of the intended contents of a single box, means foropening and erecting a box blank to form an inverted open box, a boxgripping frame associated with the box blank opening and erecting means,a pivotally mounted parallelogram linkage supporting the box grippingframe and arranged to carry a box gripped by the frame forwardly withand downwardly onto the box contents and spacer members being advancedalong said guide, means for synchronising the travel of said contentswith the operation of said parallelogram linkage lowering said invertedbox into contact with the contents and spacer members, and meansmounting the spacer members for subsequent downward movement out of theadvancing inverted filled box.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the means for opening and erecting the box blank include meansfor supporting a stack of folded already glued box blanks, means forgripping the wall of a folded box blank carried by said stack supportingmeans, and means for rotating said gripping means to effect unfolding ofthe box blank during withdrawal from said stack.
 3. Apparatus accordingto claim 2, wherein said box opening and erecting means furthercomprises abutment means for opening the folded box blank to provide arectangular tubular box, further gripping means for holding the openedrectangular box, and means for folding two side flaps and a main flap toclose the floor of the box while in an inverted configuration. 4.Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said means for folding the mainflap comprises an angled guide and a co-operating bar to fold a terminaltab of the box blank main flap prior to closing of the main flap itself.5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the means for folding theside flaps includes retractable pivot shafts folding arms carried bysaid retractable pivot shafts, driven cams mounted adjacent said shafts,and resiliently biased cam follower arms on said pivot shafts in contactwith said driven cams to effect folding movement of the folding armsupon advance of the arms to a folding position in engagement with thepreviously unfolded side flaps.
 6. Apparatus according to claim 3,wherein said further gripping means comprise suction pads, and the meansfor folding said main and side flaps of the box include suctionpneumatic jacks and a source of suction connected to both the pneumaticjacks and said suction pads.
 7. Apparatus according to claim 6, whereineach suction pad is carried on a respective suction gripping memberwhich includes at least one freely slidably mounted gripping memberprovided at one end with said suction pad; an abutment surfaceassociated with the suction pad to engage an article held by the suctionpad; a piston carried by the gripping member and sealingly slidablymounted within a cylinder stationary relative to said abutment surface;means biasing said piston towards a first end of said cylinder in asense tending to retract the gripping member with respect to saidabutment surface; a central axially extending passage within saidgripping member communicating the suction pad with said one end of thecylinder; and means for optionally communicating said first end and asecond end of the cylinder simultaneously wIth a common source ofsuction.
 8. Apparatus according to claim 3, and further including meansfor advancing the inverted filled boxes beyond the box opening anderecting means, means for inwardly folding further side flaps of eachbox and means for inwardly folding a further main flap of the box toclose the package.
 9. Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the meansfor inwardly folding further side flaps of each box comprise means forurging the box downwardly against an anvil to effect deformation of thefurther side flaps, a stationary folding member positioned on said anvilto fold under the leading further side flap of the box during advancingmovement of the inverted filled box, and a rapidly advancing overtakingfolding member movable along said anvil for folding under the trailingfurther side flap of the inverted filled box, whereby the action of thesaid stationary and overtaking folding members is assisted by the meansfor urging the box against the anvil.
 10. Apparatus according to claim9, wherein the stationary folding member comprises a serrated pad andthe overtaking folding member comprises a similar serrated pad andwherein a rapidly advancing conveyor is disposed below the anvil andcarries the overtaking folding member.
 11. Apparatus according to claim9, wherein the means for urging the box downwardly against the anvilcomprises at least two rotating snail cams arranged to urge the boxrapidly downwardly while its upstanding side flaps are in contact withthe said stationary and rapidly advancing folding members.
 12. Apparatusaccording to claim 8, and including means for advancing the box beyondthe anvil after folding of the side flaps, means disposed adjacent saidadvancing means for holding the further main flap of the box in ahorizontal configuration, and means associated with said main flapholding means for folding a terminal tab of the said further main flapvertically downwardly.
 13. Apparatus according to claim 8, wherein saidmeans for folding inwardly the further main flap of the box comprises ahemi-cylindrical folding guide disposed below said guide, and at leastone folding member arranged to pivot about the longitudinal axis of thehemi-cylindrical guide to urge the main flap of the box to rotate into aclosed configuration.
 14. Apparatus according to claim 13, and includinga pivot shaft supporting said folding member, and a further suchpivotable folding member disposed on said pivot shaft angularlydisplaced at 90* with respect to the first mentioned folding member;said hemi-cylindrical guide being arranged parallel to said pivot shaftwhereby a first box may have its main flap rotated through an angle of90* while a second already partially closed box may have its main flaprotated through a further 90* with the result that each individual boxupon travelling past the two said folding members has its main flaprotated through a total of 180* into the fully folded position. 15.Apparatus according to claim 14, and including: surface means forsupporting a box passing said pivotable folding members, said surfacemeans comprising a guide member which has a width less than the radiusof said hemi-cylindrical guide and terminates downstream of said furtherpivotable folding member; and including a downstream supporting platedisposed at the point of termination of said guide member and at a levelwhich is closely spaced below that of the guide member, whereby the saidfurther main flap of the box is folded into a closed position over saidguide member and further advance of the folded box beyond the point oftermination of said guide member leaves the box resting on saiddownstream supporting plate with the main flap in a fully closedposition and disposed above said downstream supporting plate.